


Ryusoul cold cases - case #1 The Necklace

by Autistic_Assassin_Bird



Category: Cold Case, 騎士竜戦隊リュウソウジャー | Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger
Genre: Case Fic, Flashbacks, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Murder Mystery, Past Domestic Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-23
Updated: 2019-11-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:48:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21536968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Autistic_Assassin_Bird/pseuds/Autistic_Assassin_Bird
Summary: A young girl comes to the Kanagawa Precinct building to ask Detective Ishikawa for help investigating the death of her mother who died in 1961.A crossover case fic with the Japanese remake of Cold Case, "Cold Case: Shinjitsu No Tobira".Companion fic to "I run away, because I am not what you found".This is entirely self indulgent fanfic since I've been a bit obsessed with the series, Cold Case, recently.
Relationships: Bamba & Nada (Ryusoulger), Nada (Ryusoulger) & Original Female Character
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter one

**Author's Note:**

> Ages:
> 
> Ming - 107/10 (2019), 34/3 (1946), 49/4, 50/5 (1961), born in 1912 
> 
> Hua - 163/16 (1912), 197/19 (1946), 212/21 (1961), born in 1708
> 
> Nada - 300/30 (2019), 185/18 (1946), 200/20 (1961), born in 1709 (Fake names used: Henry Matsumoto, Masaru Akiyama)

**(January 14, 1961; Yokohama)**

A young woman, Hua, ran around her small apartment, setting up the last preparations for dinner. She was wearing a white blouse and a dark skirt. Her black hair was cut short. 

"Mama?"

She looked up and smiled at her daughter poking her head out of her room. Hua went over to the four year old. "Ming," She scolded her. "What are you doing out of bed? It’s late. Go rest or you’ll be cranky and tired in the morning." 

The little girl looked up at her mother and sniffled as she fidgeted nervously with the skirt of her blue dress. "I wanted to know if Uncle Masaru said he's bringing me a birthday present. I don't want him to miss my birthday again." 

Hua ruffled her daughter's hair and kissed her head. "He will. I told him to pick you up from school tomorrow. Now, go to bed and rest."

Ming bounced on her feet as she went back to her room. 

Hua went to her bedroom and into the small bathroom. She didn't look up from putting on lipstick when she heard small footsteps. “Ming, go to bed.”

"Mama, can I ask you something?" 

"Yes, sweetie?"

"When can I have a necklace or bracelet like you and Uncle Masaru?" 

Hua took the necklace with the small yellow lightning bolt charm out of her jewelry box and put it on. She turned and crouched down to face her daughter. "I'll make you your own tonight, Ming. You can have it on your birthday tomorrow when your Uncle comes." Hua had been planning to give Ming her own mother's necklace and the charm from her father's necklace for a couple years now. 

"Yay!" The little girl hugged her tightly. 

Hua was determined to make tomorrow the best day ever for her daughter.

..

The moon shone down on the back alley behind a shop. Lying half hidden in the shadows of the alley was a woman with bright red lipstick on, her black hair matted with blood. Blood covered the ground where she lay. Lying in a pool of blood flowing from the gunshot wound in her chest which stained her white blouse dark red was a necklace with a small yellow lightning bolt charm. 

In the police station, an officer carried a box over to a shelf and slipped it into an empty space.  **_Murder of woman in Chukagai, Yokohama. January 15, 1961. Victim: Guan Hua._ **

..

**(Present day; Tokyo)**

Banba slashed at the Hellhound Minosaur. The Minosaur had been reported on the local news station. The Minosaur was apparently targeting and taking young children. The Minosaur host had not been found so far. 

Banba finished off the Minosaur and left as it exploded. 

His ryusoul changer beeped, incidenting he had a message. Banba and Towa had phones for practical reasons mostly and they didn't really call people on them. (Asuna, Koh, Canalo, and Melt barely knew how to work a tv, never mind a smartphone. Even if those four did get phones, he doubted they'd remember to keep them on them or text or call anyone.) 

The sound came again as Banba cancelled his transformation. "Hey, brother, check your phone." Towa called. His brother had defeated the Drunn soldiers he'd been fighting. 

He realized the sound was his phone and he took it out of his pocket. He had a text from someone. 

**_To Sakamoto Kenichi and Sakamoto Ryotaro,_ **

**_Sorry to call you in on your day off, but there's a case I need help finding in the archives. Its a case from 1961, involving a Chinese woman. The woman’s granddaughter and great-granddaughter came in and asked if we could reinvestigate it._ **

**_Detective Ishikawa Yuri_ **

Banba sighed and exited his messages before putting his phone in his pocket. "Towa," he said to his brother. "Tell the others we're gonna be late getting back." 

Towa nodded then texted Ui. He ran over to Banba. "Wonder what Ishikawa wants us to dig up in the basement this time." He said. 

Towa's phone pinged. He groaned in exasperation, throwing his hands up in the air. 

Banba gave him a confused look. "What is it?"

"Ui says we need to get back to her house. It's urgent, apparently."

Banba grumbled. "Fine. We'll go to Ui's house first." 

At Ui's house, Canalo was panicking. He ran over to Banba and Towa and grabbed Banba by the shoulders. "Have you seen Oto anywhere?" He asked frantically. 

Banba shook his head. "No. Is she missing?" 

"She went out for a walk with Tyramigo an hour ago." Naohisa said from where he was sitting at his desk. "Koh, Nada, and Asuna went out to look for her." 

"We'll go help them look." Towa offered. 

"Thank you."

As the three of them left the house, Banba got another text from Ishikawa. He checked his texts. They met up with Koh and Asuna near a train station. 

"Did you find Oto?" Canalo asked them. 

"Yes. She's fine. Don't worry." Asuna assured him. Canalo sighed in relief as Oto came over with Tyramigo. Following the robot dinosaur was a ten year old girl. Banba swore the girl looked younger briefly, like a four year old wearing a blue dress and a red coat. The girl was wearing a white shirt with flowers on it, blue jeans, sneakers, and a blue coat. A necklace dangled from her neck but Banba couldn't see if there was a charm or anything on it. 

Oto apologized to the others. "I'm sorry. Tyramigo just ran off and we ran into this girl," she incidented the ten year old. "getting off the train by herself." 

Nada came up behind them. "You need to stop wandering off when there's a Minosaur on the loose." He snapped at Tyramigo. 

"Hey," Koh said to the girl. "What're you doing here?" 

The ten year old girl shied away from him. "I came back from Yokohama." She said nervously. "I was checking on something for my mom." 

"What's your name?" 

The girl got a split second deer in the headlights look on her face before clinging to Tyramigo. Oto placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's alright. We're just asking so we can help." She reassured the younger girl. 

The girl gave her a grateful look before nodding. "My name is Guan Ming. I'm looking for my dad and my uncle."

Banba thought he saw a flash of recognition in Nada's eyes before he shifted uncomfortably on his feet. "Why?"  _ Wasn't his girlfriend's name Guan Hua? _

The girl blurted out something in Mandarin Chinese. The only word Banba caught was "Ryusoul". 

“Can you repeat that, please?” Asuna asked. 

Ming took off her necklace. There were two small lightning bolt charms on the end, one gold, the other silver. "My mom may have been from the Ryusoul tribe." She repeated in Japanese. Everyone stared in shock. The girl took a shaky breath. “I want help finding out why she was killed.”

**(Roll intro)**


	2. Chapter two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tomohiro - 488/48 (2019), 342/34 (1946), 357/35 (1961), 308/30 (1912), born in 1604 (Fake names: Kenta Saitou, Eiji Kyosuke)

When they got back to the Tatsui house, Towa told Melt, Ui, and Naohisa what Ming had told them. Ming sat down on the couch and started talking to Melt. 

"So, Ming," Melt asked. "Which part of the Ryusoul tribe was your mom from?" 

The girl kicked her feet and hummed. "I don't know. My mom didn't know either. My grandparents never told her which part of the tribe either of them came from." Ming shrugged. "My grandparents moved to China around a year or three after my mom was born. My mom moved back to Japan when she was in her 160s around the 1900s. She met my dad and had me in 1912." 

Everyone was so focused on talking to Ming, that no one noticed Banba and Towa leave. 

..

**(Kanagawa prefectural police station, Yokohama)**

“The victim was a first generation Chinese immigrant named Guan Hua.” Yuri explained as Towa and Banba followed her through the rows and rows of cold case boxes in the basement. The two were both wearing business suits like Yuri herself was. 

Towa browsed the boxes from 1961. Finding the one he wanted, he pulled it off the shelf. “The granddaughter mentioned her grandmother owned an antique shop in Yokohama’s chinatown she inherited from her parents. Also, everyone thought her brother, Masaru, killed her due to lack of a solid alibi.” He said. 

Yuri nodded. “According to the granddaughter, Hua’s daughter was adopted by other relatives who thought the uncle had something to do with it.” 

“Hm.” Banba remarked. “The uncle ran off to Canada a week after the murder, so the statue of limitations hasn’t expired.” _Maybe the land tribe had records of her parents in the archives. I should ask Melt and Nada to come along and help check. Oh, and maybe Towa can ask Canalo and Oto to check the sea tribe’s archives, as well._ “The great-granddaughter said she found out he returned to Japan a month ago, right?”

“Yes.” Yuri replied. 

Towa turned to leave. “We’ll call you guys if we find anything.” He called over his shoulder. 

..

Banba stepped into the house, three hours later. Both he and Towa were wearing suits like they were dressed for some fancy event. They set two boxes down on the table. 

The first box was labelled, **_Young man assaulted in Motomachi district, Yokohama. July 25, 1946. Victim: Matsumoto Henry._ **

The second box was labelled, **_Murder of woman in Chukagai, Yokohama. January 15, 1961. Victim: Guan Hua._ **

Koh and Nada looked up and went over to them. "What's all this?" Koh asked. 

Not looking at him, Banba simply stated, "Side work."

"We've been working as interns at a police station in Yokohama since 2009." Towa explained. "Mainly just for extra money for stuff like bills or rent." He took his jacket off and threw it over a chair before taking his tie off. 

"You look great in a suit, Banba." Nada teased, smirking at his friend. "Damn right he does." Ui added. 

Koh merely rolled his eyes as he exchanged a slightly annoyed look with Asuna and Melt. 

"We got the box for the current case that Captain Ishikawa wants us to work on; the box on Ming's mother, and another case I thought might have some connection to it." Banba said, handing one of the two boxes to Nada. 

Nada took it over to the coffee table and took the top off. He took out all the files and stacked them neatly. Koh joined him. Ming and Melt went over to them. Soon, the four of them were bouncing information off each other. 

Nada suddenly went quiet. 

"Nada?" Koh said. "You okay?"

He leaned over to see what Nada was looking at. It was a photo of a man, roughly around 18 or 19 years old, with bruises, a black eye, and a badly swollen face. The man's hair looked like it had been torn out in some places, his white shirt was stained with blood, and a bandage wrapped around his right leg. Nada's breathing quickened slightly as he wiped at his eyes. 

There was another photo as well; a man in his mid thirties with a young woman, around 18 years old, and a little girl, around 3 years old. 

More photos were also in the files of Hua's box; a woman in her early twenties with curly black hair and lipstick dressed in a blouse and a dark skirt with high heels; a smiling man in his early twenties wearing a suit and a doctor's coat; autopsy photos of the woman; a photo of a 4 or 5 year old girl wearing a blue dress and a red coat. 

Koh realized the young women and the little girls in both photos looked similar. Then he realized why. _They're the same people._

Nada sat down on the couch, staring at the photos. 

"This photo was taken in 1945." Ui noted, picking up the photo of the man, woman, and little girl. She showed it to Ming. "You recognize anyone?"

Ming took one look at the photo and scowled. She said something very rude in Mandarin. "That's my mom, me, and that bastard who doesn't deserve to be called a father." She answered. 

She turned to Tyramigo and held the photo up to him. "Can you eat the part with my dad's face?" She asked. 

Koh took the photo away before Tyramigo could do anything. "No. He can't." He said. "And besides, if any evidence is destroyed, Banba and Towa will probably end up paying for it."

"Nada, do you recognize any of those people?" Banba asked him, coming over to sit beside him. 

"Yes." Nada's reply was strained like he was trying not to cry. He pointed to the photo of the man with the swollen face. "This...this was taken in 1946, when I worked as a milkman in Yokohama. I'd just come back to Japan in 1937, after staying in New York City since 1910." 

"Did you know the guy?" Asuna piped up. 

Nada scowled. " _I'm_ the guy in the photo." He snapped. "I talked to Hua often because her antique shop was right on my route." 

..

**(1946)**

_Nada set the morning's milk bottles in front of the shop. As he picked up the ones from last night and put them in his friend's truck, he heard the door of the shop open._

_"Good morning, Henry." The young woman, around 19 years old, smiled at him. Her lipstick was a shade of bright red and her dress was a pale blue with darker blue polka dots on it._

_Henry smiled back. "Mornin' to you too, Hua." As he turned around to hug her, he caught her arm. He stared in confusion. "Is there something wrong with your arm? It looks bruised."_

_Hua pulled her arm away. "Nothing's wrong." She said hurriedly._

_Henry raised an eyebrow. "Really?"_

_"Is it about this husband of yours you've mentioned before?" He took out a small handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed at a fresh bruise on her cheek. "Did he do this?"_

_Hua shook her head. "I...I bumped into a wall while making dinner for my daughter last night."_

_Henry shoved the handkerchief into her hands. "These don't look like they formed from running into a wall, Hua. At least tell me how you got these bruises."_

_Hua looked away from him as she grabbed the milk bottles. "My husband, Saitou Kenta, came home last night from his vigilante group."_

_Henry frowned as Hua went inside. "Damn that no-good, son-of-a -" He said softly._

_"Henry, we need to finish our route for the day. C'mon." His friend said. "You can worry about some strange Chinese woman later."_

..

"Are any of the members of the vigilante squad still alive?" Towa asked. 

Nada shook his head. "Not that I know of. They either died of old age or they're in another country right now." He leaned against Banba. "I don't want to talk about this. It's hard for me to do." 

Melt took out a ryusoul. He gave him an apologetic glance before taking out his ryusoul sword. "Sorry, Nada, but you're gonna have to." Banba sat up, immediately realizing what Melt was doing. He'd done a similar technique to help Detective Ishikawa with cold cases; he'd given her his ryusoul sword and an answer soul to help her talk to very old or particularly clammy suspects. 

"Wait, no!" The words were barely out of his and Towa's mouths when the attack hit Nada. 

"Nada," Asuna began. "What happened in 1946 between you and Hua's husband?" 

Nada's form seemed to shift into a young 185 year old man in a white shirt and dark pants, his black hair cut short. The young man stared off into space, the scene graying. "I was attacked on my way home that night by her husband and his damn vigilante group. They caught me as I walked out of the train station." 

..

**[Song: Run rabbit by Flanagan and Allen]**

_Henry had paused just outside the station to adjust his jacket when the four men jumped him. He was shoved hard to the ground, one of his arms twisted behind his back. He struggled, kicking out at the attackers._

_A man in his mid thirties with a small bracelet on his wrist grabbed his hair and pulled his head up to face him. "Matsumoto," His voice sounded mocking, dripping with fake politeness. "I've heard from the neighborhood that you've been talking to my wife." Kenta's grip tightened. "You're trying to steal my wife, aren't you?"_

_Henry struggled, trying to get away. "No, I'm not. I was just chatting with her, doing my job, nothing more."_

_"Liar!" One of the men crowed. Henry felt something stab into his thigh. "Tell Saitou the truth, liar, or I'll cut your leg off."_

_"I swear, I have no feelings for her." Henry repeated. He noticed something on Kenta's wrist; a bracelet with a gold lightning bolt. It was similar to the necklace Henry himself had. "What's that -"_

_A swift kick to the face from Kenta interrupted him. The other four men stomped on his back. Someone stabbed him in the gut as he rolled over and kicked with his good leg. He heard a click and realized one of the men had a gun. He froze as the man aimed it at his chest._

_"Tell the truth, you son of bitch!" He spat._

_"What's that bracelet you have, Saitou? I've seen it before."_

_The four other men looked confused. Henry lunged and knocked the gun from the man's hands and grabbed it, aiming it at Kenta. Kenta grinned. "Now, now, leave the man alone." He told his friends._

_Putting his hand over the gun and leaning close to him, Kenta grabbed him by the shirt collar and pulled his necklace off. He handed the gun to someone else. "Don't kill him, boys. I just want him to learn a lesson, not end up dead."_

_He turned back to him. "You're from the woods, aren't you?"_

_Henry stared, hesitant. A left hook to his face broke him out of his anxiousness. "Y-yes." He replied, blood dripping from his mouth._

_"What's your name?"_

_Henry stared Kenta in the eye. "I'll only tell you if you tell me your name first, bastard." He spit blood at the other man._

_Nonplussed, Kenta wiped it off. "Tomohiro."_

_"Nada."_

_"Well, Nada, if I catch you near my girl again, I won't go easy on you like I did tonight."_

_Henry punched him in the face. Kenta swore and stumbled backwards. Henry bolted off away from the men._

..

"The five men were arrested shortly after the assault and sent to jail for ten years." Takagaki said when Towa told him the next day about what they'd uncovered. 

"I don't see how these two cases are connected, Kenichi." Tachikawa said. "The victim and family members are too young to be the same people. They don't even have the same names." 

"They could be using fake names." Banba suggested. He had his hands in his pockets, messing with the black ryusoul. 

"Even if they were, they'd still be too old." Ishikawa said. 

Towa rolled his eyes and grabbed one of the burgers Banba had gotten for lunch. His phone pinged. He ignored it. "I'll go with Ryotaro and talk to the victim's family." He offered. 

"I'm going with you." Ishikawa said. 


	3. Chapter three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hitomi - 478/47 (1912), 512/51 (1946), 527/52 (1961), 585/58 (2019), born in 1434, land tribe (Fake names: Hitomi Guan)

Melt had not expected to go digging through the remains of the archives today. So far, Ming was not being much help, despite asking to come with them. The kid ran around and kept looking at everything. She was clearly very excited to be here. 

"Found anything, Melt?" Asuna asked, peeking her head around a bookshelf. 

He handed her a set of records, at least two pages long. "I think I might've found something worth looking at." 

Asuna flipped through it. "Hitomi, left the tribe in 1723." She squinted. “Her whereabouts were last updated in 1999.”

“Does it say where?” Melt and Asuna turned as Ming went over to them. 

“An apartment in Fujikawaguchiko in Yamanashi.” 

..

Ishikawa knocked on the door of Hitomi’s apartment. “Guan Hitomi, are you home? I’m Detective Ishikawa Yuri from the Kanagawa Prefectural police. We’re here to talk to you about the murder of Guan Hua.” 

An old woman opened the door. For a few seconds, she looked like she had black hair tied in a bun and was wearing a black and silver kimono. “You want to know about Hua?” When Towa blinked, she was wearing a dark blue kimono and had gray hair tied into a ponytail. 

Banba nodded. Hitomi ushered them inside where they sat down. 

"Hua was a mess after she left her husband.” Hitomi said. 

“What do you mean by that?” Ishikawa questioned her. 

Hitomi snorted derisively and made a dismissive gesture. “She kept getting into on again, off again relationships with men. She often left Ming at home alone for long hours on weekends or holidays.” She sighed, shaking her head. “Maybe, after she divorced her husband, she no longer knew how to have a healthy romantic relationship.” 

“What about Masaru?”

The older woman grimanced. “He heard about what Hua was doing and tried to step in to help Ming. Hua got upset and argued with him. For a while, that’s all it was - arguments.”

Banba leaned forward. “Did her brother ever get violent toward her?” 

“Him? No, never. But I heard about one incident that escalated about a month before she died.” 

..

**[Song: Help by The Beatles]**

**(1960)**

_Hua came back from her night out to see someone sitting on her couch. “Masaru? What are you doing here? I thought you had a university lecture to attend.” She put her purse down on the table._

_Not looking up, Masaru frowned. “I did.” He stood up. “Until I heard Ming had been left at home,_ **_again_** _.” He glared. “I can’t believe you keep doing this! Especially after you promised your daughter you wouldn’t.”_

_“What I choose to do is none of your business.” She retorted._

_He went over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Hua, please. I just want to help you.” He said softly. “Ming keeps asking and asking when you’ll be home and if you can be with her on the holidays or festivals.” He smiled. “I can maybe even get a couple people from my tribe to -”_

_Hua slapped his hand off her shoulder and cut him off. “I don’t want your help.” She snapped. “Especially not from your tribe.”_

_“I know, but I still think Ming at least deserves to have someone other than me helping take care of her.” Masaru continued. “It -”_

_He was cut off as Hua clocked him in the face. “I. don’t. want. your. help!” She snapped, each angry word emphasized by a punch to her brother’s face. She stood there for a few seconds before it sank in. “GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!” She screamed._

_Masaru hurriedly complied._

..

“Do you know the names of any of the men she dated?” Ishikawa asked. 

“Only the one she dated right before she died.” Hitomi replied. “A man named Izumi Yusuke.” 

..

Koh, Canalo, and Nada set out to find the Minosaur host. 

“So, Nada,” Koh said. “I heard you and Hua got into fights a lot.”

Nada fidgeted nervously. "Yeah, we did." He admitted. He grabbed his gaisoul sword and gaisoul as Drunn soldiers appeared. "Banba told ya, didn't he?" He cut down a couple of them after transforming.

"Towa did, actually." Canalo answered as he shot at three more Drunn soldiers. "Why'd you want to bring Ming to Aokigahara?"

Nada's reply was tinged with bitterness. "Ming wanted to know about the tribe, but Hua refused to let me or her mother tell her anything. I think she was scared her daughter would end up like her."


	4. Chapter four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yusuke Izumi - 23 (1961), 81 (2019), born in 1938
> 
> Kagura - 205/20 (1946), 171/17 (1912), 220/22 (1961), 278/27 (2019), born in 1741, sea tribe (Fake names: Kagura Kyosuke)

Tachikawa and Motoki were accompanied by Ui when they went to talk to Yusuke. He lived in Motomachi in an apartment above a ramen shop. 

They went in and ordered food. "Are you Izumi Yusuke?" Tachikawa asked the man working the counter. 

For a few seconds, the man appeared to look like a twenty one year old man with curly hair. "Right in front of you, officer." He said, grinning. 

The man handed them their ramen bowls, now looking like an old man in his early eighties with balding white hair and wrinkles. 

"We'd like to talk to you about a woman you dated back in 1961, Guan Hua." Motoki told him. 

Yusuke frowned. "Oh, her." He said. "Why?" 

"We're trying to find out who killed her." Ui answered. 

"I was dating her for a month up until she died." Yusuke said. He took an empty bowl from one of the servers and put it with the other used bowls before continuing. "Weird woman. Kind of paranoid." 

"Paranoid?" Tachikawa repeated. "Why?"

Yusuke sighed heavily. "I don't know why. Something about her ex-husband getting out of prison and her ex sister-in-law. She ghosted me on a date we had in early January." He leaned his arms on the counter. "I went to her house once to check on her around a week after. Saw a woman that smelled like a fishmonger's stall come out of the building. Glared at me when I said hello to her." He shook his head, chuckling. "I asked Hua who she was and she said that the woman was her ex sister-in-law, Kyosuke Kagura, or something." 

"Did she tell you anything else about Kagura?" Motoki asked, handing the old man his and Tachikawa's empty bowls. 

"Only other thing I learned 'bout her was that she lived near Tokyo Bay, in Minami ward." 

..

Canalo raced into the warehouse. He caught the smell of fish and molluscs, Japanese squid and tuna, specifically. Two of the most common species eaten in the Sea tribe. 

Koh and Nada gagged as the smell hit them. "It smells like a fish stall went rotten." Nada remarked. 

Canalo followed the smell to the second floor of the warehouse. Lying in a corner was a woman who looked to be in her late twenties or early thirties. "Looks like we found the Minosaur host." He told the other two. He went over to the woman. "Miss," He said, nudging her with his foot. "You awake?" 

The woman looked up at him, disoriented and confused. "What's your name?" Koh asked her. 

For a few seconds, the woman looked to be in her early twenties, wearing an American style dress with long hair and red lipstick. "Kyosuke Kagura." She answered. 

..

One hour later, after checking that Kagura wasn't injured by being a Minosaur host, Takigawa, Ishikawa, and Nada entered the interrogation room at the precinct. When she saw Nada, Kagura shifted slightly in her seat. "Why am I here, detective?" She asked. 

"We're investigating the death of Guan Hua at the request of her great-granddaughter." Takigawa replied. "One of her boyfriends, Izumi Yusuke, said he saw you leaving Hua's apartment the night before she was killed. You want to explain what you were doing there?" 

Kagura got a deer in the headlights look. "I was going to talk to her on behalf of my older brother, Tomohiro. He wanted to apologise for raping and abusing her."

"That wasn't all you were there for, was it?" Ishikawa said. "You were looking for her daughter, weren't you?" 

"Y-yes." She stammered. 

"Why? You never showed any interest in her before." Nada said. 

"Because the Sea tribe needed members." Kagura explained. "Our population has been dwindling since 1899. By all rights, Ming belonged to Tomohiro, not to that bastard, failure of a Ryusoul knight. So, I went to go get her."

Ishikawa glared at her. "Ming didn't belong to your brother. Children are not their parent's property." 

"When Hua confronted you in her apartment the day she died, she knew you were looking for Ming. She didn't like that, did she?" Nada said.

Kagura seemed to become that twenty two year old woman again as she looked at Nada. "No, she didn't." 

..

**(January 15, 1961)**

_"What are you doing in my house?" Kagura turned to see Hua standing in front of the door to her apartment._

_Kagura scowled. "I'm here to take what rightfully belongs to Tomohiro."_

_"What do you mean, "rightfully belongs to Tomohiro", you cowardly bitch." Hua snapped, grabbing the other woman and slamming her into the wall._

_"His daughter was supposed to go to the Sea tribe! Better she live there than be neglected by an absent slutty whore like you!" Kagura growled. Hua's hold on her grew tighter._

_"Remind me again who watched her big brother rape me and did nothing." She snapped. "You're too much of a coward to protect your former friend. What makes you think you can protect a young child from her abusive father?"_

_Kagura felt anger rising in her belly. She grabbed the gun Tomohiro had given her and shot Hua in the chest._

..

**[Song: We'll meet again by Vera Lynn]**

Ishikawa arrested Kagura for murder. As she walked the woman to a cell in prison, the other cops watched. 

Kagura showed no hint of remorse as Banba and Towa glared at her as she walked past.

..

Yusuke looked up from the counter of his ramen shop to see Hitomi come in. She sat down at the counter and the two talked for a bit about their time with Hua and Ming. 

Later, they accompanied Ming to her mother's grave. Hitomi hugged her. 

Nada and Ming sat on a bench. As he talked to her about Ryusoul tribe traditions, Ming looked up at something. He followed her gaze and saw Hua, looking like she was dressed for Ming's birthday party wearing red lipstick, her black hair brushed and styled and a Ryusoul tribe necklace lying against her white blouse and dark gray skirt and heels. 

Ming and Nada went over to her, looking like they had on the night Hua died; Ming in a blue dress, Nada wearing a white shirt with black pants. They hugged her. 

Smiling happily at the two of them, Hua faded away.

**The end**


End file.
